1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to stationery items, and in particular to a device for preventing the tearing away of first and last pages of a paper stack from a staple through the stack at its corner.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There has long existed a problem in the business world concerning stacks of paper fastened together by a staple through the corner of the stack. As a person works with the stack (e.g., a contract, memorandum, sales proposal, etc.), the first and last pages are routinely folded back at the corner and at the staple through the corner. Such first or last pages will often begin to tear at the staple, and many times will separate from the stack.
Before the invention as described, illustrated and claimed below, there has not been a simple solution to the problem described above. Of course, binding systems exist where an entire side of a paper stack is fastened, but the use of a staple in the corner of a paper stack remains a useful, inexpensive, rapid way to bind a paper stack.
There have been protectors for pages in a book (e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 295,141), but such protectors have not been adapted for use with a staple to bind a paper stack at its corner while inhibiting the first or last sheet of the stack from tearing away from the binding.
3. Identification of Objects of the Invention
In view of the identified need for a paper stack protection device as described above, a primary object of this invention is to provide such a device which is designed to inhibit the tearing away of the first and last sheets of a paper stack at the corner of the stack.
Another object is to provide an inexpensive, easy to use device for the enhancement of staple binding at the corner of a paper stack.
Still another object is to provide such a device which can expand to accept paper stacks of varying thicknesses.